The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are.
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The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are.

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Description

   How did the table fork acquire a fourth tine?  What advantage does the Phillips-head screw have over its single-grooved predecessor? Why does the paper clip look the way it does? What makes Scotch tape Scotch?   In this delightful book Henry, Petroski takes a microscopic look at artifacts that most of us count on but rarely contemplate, including such icons of the everyday as pins, Post-its, and fast-food “clamshell” containers.  At the same time, he offers a convincing new theory of technological innovation as a response to the perceived failures of existing products—suggesting that irritation, and not necessity, is the mother of invention.

Additional information

Weight 0.27 kg
Dimensions 1.73 × 13.34 × 20.2 cm
PubliCanadation City/Country

USA
by

Format

Paperback
Language

Pages

304
Publisher

Year Published

1994-2-1
Imprint

ISBN 10

0679740392
About The Author

Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University. The author of more than a dozen previous books, he lives in Durham, North Carolina, and Arrowsic, Maine.

"A celebration of inventiveness…By cataloging the clutter of our desks, closets, and workbenches, and giving them a human history, Petroski makes us feel more at home in our homes."- Newsweek"Petroski is a valuable resource—an engineer who examines the simplest, most ubiquitous tools in our live with an appraising eye."- Washington Post Book World"Mr. Petroski's case histories delightfully illustrate his thesis… You never know when you will turn a page and find some tiny corner of your mind enlightened."- The New York Times"Petroski has an eye for the mundane that distracts and delights… [His] wealth of literary and cultural references runs from Aristotle… to Russell Baker… The book has substance."- Newsday

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